for people who care about the West

Some 'canned' elk get uncanned

Although most of its neighbors have either banned or
begun phasing out elk farms, the state of Idaho is still home to
more than 70, with some charging shooters thousands of dollars to
bag fenced, domesticated game. In August, as many as 160 elk
escaped from an Idaho canned-hunt operation near Yellowstone
National Park. It took weeks for the news to surface, but once it
did, wildlife officials, worried that the escapees would breed with
wild elk and spread diseases and undesirable genetic traits,
authorized special hunts. They killed a couple dozen of the
escapees and recaptured about 40 others, but the rest are still at
large. Despite the crisis, on Sept. 21, ex-pro football player
Rulon Jones got permission to open a new, 2,000-acre canned-hunt
operation in Bingham County, Idaho. But the county wants Jones to
enclose his elk within two fences, instead of just one. Allen
Jensen, head of the county’s Planning and Zoning Department,
told the Idaho Falls Post-Register, "The double
fence is a reasonable requirement."